Jade Dernbach is in line to make an emotional England return as they aim to complete a 3-0 whitewash of the one-day series against West Indies on Friday, although the team management will leave the final decision to the Surrey seamer over whether he is ready to play at Headingley so soon after the loss of his close friend Tom Maynard.

Dernbach was one of the last people to see Maynard before he died after a police chase early on Monday morning. Dernbach was absent from The Oval during the second game of the NatWest series the following day having been granted indefinite compassionate leave. But the 26-year-old, who has been a regular in England's 50-over and Twenty20 teams for the past 12 months, has travelled to Leeds with the squad for the last game of the series, and bowled in the indoor nets at Headingley on Thursday as heavy rain fell outside.

In normal circumstances he would be the obvious replacement for Stuart Broad, who has been rested in the latest example of England's rotation policy, with the Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes coming in for Tim Bresnan. But these are anything but normal circumstances, and England have been anxious not to put Dernbach under any pressure.

Stuart Meaker, another Surrey fast bowler, who played in two of England's five one-day defeats in India last autumn, was added to the squad to provide further cover when Broad was withdrawn on Tuesday night, and England also have the option of changing the balance of their team having called up the Kent off-spinner James Tredwell.

Steve Finn will become the second most experienced bowler behind James Anderson whoever else is selected, even though he is younger than Dernbach, Meaker and Woakes. "This game gives me an opportunity to become a more senior bowler in the group," said the 23-year-old, who has played in England's past 13 ODIs going back to the tie against India at Lord's last September. "It puts that added bit of responsibility on me and I'm looking forward to dealing with that. I want to become an established member of the team in all formats."

Finn was a contemporary of Woakes and Meaker in representative age-group cricket, and believes the trio could easily form England's senior pace attack. "I played a lot of cricket against Stuart and Chris," he said, suggesting that Woakes could be a successor to Anderson. "He has got the skills and the ability to have control of what he does with inswing and outswing like Jimmy. Stuart is short and skiddy, so it's a different kind of pace. If he plays he will be wanting to push his claims."

Not for the first time on this tour, but possibly the last, the West Indies coach, Ottis Gibson, found himself envying the luxury of England's rotation policy. "You don't rest people when you're losing," he said. "The English system has been a well-oiled machine for some time now and it's the envy of the world. For us it's just trying for game after game to get the right balance. We lost 2-0 in the Test series and we certainly don't want to lose 3-0 in the one-dayers."

Gibson said that Andre Russell, the Jamaican all-rounder who was ruled out at The Oval by a shoulder problem, is available and stressed that Chris Gayle and the other players who have joined the tour for the one-day matches have made a positive impact, despite finding England more relentless opposition than they had been facing in the Indian Premier League.

"Everybody's come in and gelled quite well," said the former England bowling coach. "They've noticed the difference because it's high intensity playing against an international attack but they all still prefer to have the maroon of West Indies on."

However, Friday's forecast suggests they may be frustrated at Headingley, which would leave only the one-off t20 international at Trent Bridge on Sunday before West Indies head for home via an intriguing brace of t20 fixtures against New Zealand in Fort Lauderdale, Florida – where the temperature should be much more to their liking.